If I want to get a Facebook user's "info" and "posts"...do I need Facebook Connect or Facebook Application?

Question

Preferably, I want the least work possible!

Answer 1

You can use FQL from the demo interface, which allows you to run most queries against your friends. An application is the way to go to scale up on this, though.

Answer 2

Your question is a bit odd, because generally the context of where and why you're using the information determines whether you want a Facebook Connect implementation or a Facebook application.

In order to fetch user information from Facebook, you must have a valid session token of some kind. You cannot get user information without it, and the context of the session token determines what kind of information is available to you. For example, you can use the API Test Console to try out various API methods, but it will always be from the context of your own Facebook user id, so anything that a user has marked as blocked/private to you won't be available.

With Facebook Connect, you receive a valid token when the user "connects" to your Facebook Connect enabled web site. With a Facebook application, the token is provided when the user comes to your application inside Facebook. Once you have the token, you can use it to query the API services and retrieve information about the user.

Each implementation faces different challenges. For a Facebook Connect site, you have to convince users to come to your web site and "connect" to it using their Facebook accounts. For a regular app, you have to convince people to add the application to their profile.

With all this, which one will be less work now becomes a subjective question, as it depends on what you want to do with the info and how you're trying to do it.